1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning duct arrangement for a vehicle, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an efficient arrangement of a duct for rear seats.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-73980, filed Mar. 18, 2003, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
A body frame of a vehicle, in general, includes two side frames which are arranged in the right-and-left direction and each of which extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, and cross members which are arranged one behind another and each of which connects the side frames to each other so as to increase the stiffness of the vehicle body. Due to this structure, in a conventional air conditioning apparatus for a vehicle, by which conditioned air is blown to occupants seated in rear seats, a duct of the air conditioning apparatus is arranged while avoiding interference with the cross members. An air conditioning arrangement, in which an air conditioning unit is disposed near a rear wheelwell, and a duct is disposed on a floor and is formed so as to open upwardly at the front portion of rear seats so that conditioned air is blown upwardly, is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publication Nos. Hei 11-254947 and Hei 11-254948).
On the other hand, a floor and seat arrangement, in which a stepped portion, which includes a rise that is raised with respect to a section of the floor located in the front, is formed in the floor so as to accommodate a fuel tank, power train elements, and the like under the floor, and a seat is disposed on the stepped portion, is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-63421.
However, in a vehicle having the floor and seat arrangement disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2001-63421, the height of a seat base of the seat disposed on the stepped portion must be as small as possible in order to ensure an overhead clearance for the occupants seated in the seat while preventing the level of a roof of the vehicle from being too high. Due to this reason, the air conditioning arrangement disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Applications, First Publication Nos. Hei 11-254947 and Hei 11-254948 cannot be employed because the height of the seat base will be increased by an amount corresponding to the height of the duct. In addition, in the case in which the duct is formed so as to open upwardly at the front portion of the rear seat, the conditioned air is blown upwardly and will not be distributed to the entire compartment of the vehicle, and thus the efficiency of air conditioning is decreased, and moreover, because foreign particles tend to enter into the duct, the efficiency of air conditioning may be further decreased due to the foreign particles.